Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

skeelo
Luminary

RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

RBR 850 and 3 RBS850

V4.6.9.11_2.3.5

Century Link ISP, 1G up and down

 

RBR and sats disconnect monthly, can almost set my watch by it.  This has been an issue going back to 2020 and FW: V3.2.16.6_1.4.4.  Has to be related to some internal lease timer or something given monthly consistency.  The only way to get everything back up is to unplug all (ISP, RBR, RBS) then plug back in.  Any ideas?

 

Rant: cannot believe I am over $1k into this system and continuing to have these issues.  Internet connectivity has been table stakes since forever. /Rant

Message 1 of 14
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6 is recommended.

 

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS🛰️ to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite ‌‌🛰

 

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1 on 2.4Ghz and 40 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

 

Do you have Armor, SPC, or Traffic Meter enabled at any point or currently? 

 

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? A complete pull of the power adapters for a period of time after the factory reset then walk thru the setup wizard and setup from scratch.
I would power OFF the ISP modem for 1 minute. Factory reset the Orbi router and power it off. Power ON the ISP modem and let it sync. Then power ON the Orbi router and walk thru the setup wizard again using a wired PC and a web browser.
Press the back reset button for 15 seconds then release. 
https://kb.netgear.com/31486/How-do-I-reset-my-Orbi-system-to-factory-default-settings

Message 2 of 14
skeelo
Luminary

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

- Latest firmware.

- Don't know the modem/ ONT model number - it's not the issue.  I get no disconnects when connecting to my ISPs router (wired or wireless), however, coverage is horrible.

- All new cat 6 was installed throughout when the house was built 2.5 years ago.

- 6,500 sq ft and at least 30 ft between RBS and RBSs.

- Already on 01 and 40 for 2.4 and 5g, respectively.

- No Armor, SPC, or Traffic enabled currently.  Turned off a year ago when trying to originally fix this disconnect issue.

 

Not setting the device up from scratch again, too much of a hassle and having done this in the past I know it does not fix the issue.  This has been an ongoing since the summer of 2020.  Every month, around the same time of the month, the system loses connectivity (wired and wireless devices) while connectivity at the modem remains unchanged.

 

I am not the first to report this issue and I have jumped through the hoops to try and fix.  IMO this is an unaddressed software issue dating back to V3.2.16.6_1.4.4.

Message 3 of 14
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

 

I've not seen anyone report about this recently in past year or so. I believe others have seen well over 30 days as well. I believe if other are seeing this they would have posted about it. I check Reddit as well. Looking at your post history you didn't mention it either back then. 

I see you have a Zyxel C3000Z if this hasn't changed?

You might change the power settings on the RBR to 50% and see if this helps any. Having 3 RBS maybe too much for your size of home. I can run one RBS in 5K sq ft home and works well. If I have two online I reduce the power to 50%. 

You might trying running two RBS at 50% power and see if this changed the behavior at 30 days. 

 

You may have just have had a faulty unit from the beginning as well. You can reach out to a forum moderator and see what your options are.

@Blanca_O @KevinLiT 

Message 4 of 14
skeelo
Luminary

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

Appreciate you checking my post history - I have consistently referenced connectivity issues since late 2020.  Early issues were related to a switch I had in place, however, there were references to losing connectivity to my ISP in April of 2021.  Another reference to the same issue in October 2021 (typed from my laptop hardwired to my ISPs modem), November of 2021, December of 2021 (a few times), January 2022, and picking back up again October/ November 2022.  This issue has been thematic in a number of posts I have seen here over time as well.

 

Regardless, appreciate your suggestion to lower the strength of the RBSs.  I do have wireless connectivity from the RBR to the entire house, albeit not as fast to certain corners without RBSs, and am going to first try running the the RBR with now RBSs for the month since I just reset again today.  If I get more than 30 days I will add back RBSs over time to see where things break.

Message 5 of 14
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

How many RBS are you using now after the reset? 

Message 6 of 14
skeelo
Luminary

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

I have three but I am not using any at the moment.  Going to run the RBR by itself to see if the system requires a reset in a month (on/ around Christmas).  If not, I am going to add back one RBS each month and see what breaks.

Message 7 of 14
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

👍 Great troubleshooting process. 

I have one other that has a 8 series that I believe is testing the same on his, barriing now power outages by the electric company.

@FarmerBob1 

Message 8 of 14
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly


@skeelo wrote:

The only way to get everything back up is to unplug all (ISP, RBR, RBS) then plug back in.  Any ideas?


Is it correct to assume that the RBR850 is in the (default) router mode? (not in Access Point mode)

Restarting only the RBR850 does not restore service?  i.e the ISP router must be restarted as well?

Is IPv6 enabled on the RBR850?

 

The question about address reservations is interesting.  I cannot find anything in the Zyxel C3000Z user manual that specifies the length of the DHCP lease that it assigned to attached devices (i.e. the RBR850):

https://www.centurylink.com/home/help/internet/modems-and-routers/advanced-setup/dhcp-reservations.h... 

(The default DHCP lease my RBR50 router assigns to devices is 86,400 seconds (1 day).

 

The length of the IPv4 lease assigned by the Zyxel to the RBR850 should appear in the router Advanced Tab, in the Internet Box in the Blue Box "Connection Status". For example, Spectrum assigns my RBR50 a DHCP lease of 86,400 seconds (1 Day, 0 hours, 0 minutes)  I have verified that (as expected) my router attempts to renew the DHCP lease when 50% of the time remains, i.e. at 12 hours, and that Spectrum consistently renews the DHCP lease as expected.

 

I also learned that Spectrum assigns an IPv6 lease to my router of 1 week. i.e., 604,800 seconds. and the router renews this lease when 50% of the lease time remains.  I know of no way for the user to display the IPv6 lease time.  I discovered it by snooping on the connection between modem and router.

 

Message 9 of 14
skeelo
Luminary

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

Late reply, apologies.

 

Was running great for over a month using just the router.  Plugged in the first of three satellites two weeks ago to test and started having issues today.  Answers below in order:

 

- Yes, default router mode.

- Have never tried restarting only the RBR, have always restarted both.  With that, have always had wired connection to ISP device despite no connectivity from the router.  Was previously the first thing I would check/ troubleshoot before restarting all.

- Yes, IPV6 is enabled at ISP and router level.

Message 10 of 14
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly


@skeelo wrote:

Was running great for over a month using just the router.  Plugged in the first of three satellites two weeks ago to test and started having issues today. 


Perhaps it would be useful to describe the "issues" in more detail.

  • The router says, "no internet"?
  • Devices lose connection to the router?
  • Devices remain connected to router but claim, "no internet"?

Meanwhile, the ISP router continues on?

 

I see that new firmware was released for the 850 product on 12/1, V4.6.14.3.  Has the system been updated to that version?

Message 11 of 14
skeelo
Luminary

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

Clarity would be helpful indeed!

 

Issues are spotty/ choppy internet (wired and wirelessly) then no internet at all.  ISP goes to router, router goes to unmanaged switch, switch goes to all wired devices.  Tested wired connectivity at RBR when having these issues and have similar access - spotty then no access.

 

ISP (wired) access works without issue - there is no WiFi from ISP (disabled) and RBR is in ISPs DMZ.  I did this years ago to eliminate a double NAT when first setting all up.

 

Running V4.6.9.11_2.3.5 currently and this connectivity issue has persisted since firmware versions got into the 4's.  There was a point in time where this was not an issue at all.

Message 12 of 14
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly


@skeelo wrote:

Running V4.6.9.11_2.3.5 currently and this connectivity issue has persisted since firmware versions got into the 4's.  There was a point in time where this was not an issue at all.


What is it the Brits say, "Bugger All!"  (Guess I should look that up to make sure I'm offending - nah.)

 

Not much to lose then by updating to the latest firmware.

Message 13 of 14
skeelo
Luminary

Re: RBR and Sats Disconnect Monthly

Will give it a shot this weekend.

Message 14 of 14
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